


Brunswick City: City of Secrets

by wesleysjeanjacket



Category: Original Work
Genre: Avians, F/M, It’s happy at times i promise, M/M, Mystery, Original Character(s), Original Story - Freeform, Original Universe, Sirens, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-25 01:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20368276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wesleysjeanjacket/pseuds/wesleysjeanjacket
Summary: From what he could see, the teacher looked awfully downcast. He knew something was wrong."I am very saddened to announce that senior student Savanna Briggs was murdered last night. The murderer is unknown."Shock sliced through Nico's chest like a bullet.He hadn't ever dreamed of hearing of a death on his first day of school.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reason, are you into treason?

Nico hadn't ever dreamed of himself as a bitchy, judgmental person, but when his school guide kept going on and on about a girl for 15 minutes instead of showing him around the school, Nico was very close to giving him a giant slap.

"So after lunch tomorrow I have a class with her, do you think I should just compliment her or give her a rose or something? Like, I really want to impress her—" and after that Nico stopped paying attention to this guy altogether. His guide seemed like the stereotypical high school jock guy.

While his guide was listing his options for a small gift, Nico snuck away from him and sped to a different hallway. _Guess I gotta show myself around. Better than him._

Nico released a long breath he didn't know he'd been holding when he finally got away and took out his schedule and looked for the room numbers.

Now, Nico Schultz arrived at the school about a month in because his parents were to investigate this random crime boss he knew nothing about because no one would tell him. But he was optimistic about new friends and trying new things and the like.

"_Shit!_"

Well, at least he was until he turned the corner and accidentally slammed into someone and he fell back on his ass and his face immediately flushed with embarrassment. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

The guy he bumped into's friend rolled his eyes and pulled the guy up. Nico had to get himself back on his feet. He dusted his jeans off as he got a good look at this stranger.

The first detail he noticed was his clothing. It was normal but just looked more expensive than Nico's chosen outfit. He also had blond hair and his sky blue eyes held Nico in his place. "Thanks for bumping into me," the boy said coldly.

"I—" Nico couldn't even say anything, he was just so embarrassed.

Cheeks still fuming, Nico finally pulled his eyes away from him and started walking the other way, shoulders stiff.

_What just happened?_

As he took another step, his guide caught up to him. "You were talking to _Wesley Coleman?_" he asked incredulously. Nico's eyes darted to where the supposed Wesley and his friend were standing, not even three feet away. Before giving Nico a chance to explain, the guide guy chided, "Lesson one: That guy's dad is bad news, so stay away from him."

"I go by Wes, by the way," Wes grinned and crossed his arms as the jock-guide-guy squeaked, adjusted his red and black varsity jacket, then took hold of Nico's arm then hauled him away.

Nico looked over his shoulder back at Wes, the boy's striking blue eyes following him until he rounded the corner and he was gone.

* * *

It was almost the last hour of school until he heard the announcement over the intercom:

"_At this time, everyone is to report to the gym for an important message. Again, everyone is to report to the gym for an important message_."

From what he knew, there wasn't an assembly that day. Nico shrugged his shoulders and hauled his messenger bag over his shoulder and followed his fellow classmates to said gym.

When he arrived through the doors, he was surprised how many other kids were in this school and Nico hurried to get a good seat on the bleachers.

When he sat down, his personal space seemed like a joke because of how crowded it was. The person behind him's knees was digging into his back and Nico was distinctly aware of his knees doing the exact same thing to the person in front of him. His legs touched the legs of the people on either side of him. He had to take off his jacket because of how hot it was.

When he looked to his left, his face and neck felt _much hotter_ as he saw who sat two people away from him: Wes Coleman. Nico frowned.

And then Wes turned his head and returned Nico's gaze, his eyes flashing. _Oh God, oh God_, Nico was _pinned_ under his gaze again.

Before either of them could say (or yell) anything, a teacher began to speak into a microphone, hushing everyone, and Nico was thankful for the distraction.

From what he could see, the teacher's face looked awfully downcast. He knew something was wrong.

"I am very saddened to announce that senior student Savanna Briggs was murdered last night. The murderer is unknown."

Shock sliced through Nico's chest like a bullet.

He hadn't ever dreamed of hearing of a death on his first day of school.

The entire gym was silent, so unlike the deafening voices not even a minute ago. After a second, he could hear someone weeping.

Nico looked at Wes again and saw that his hands were clenched in his lap, but his face showed the opposite: cool, calm.

Wes's enclosed fists were shaking now.

Nico wanted to comfort him but didn't know how.

* * *

The night before, Wes was walking the streets of downtown Brunswick City with his hood up, as he did every once and a while to clear his mind. For some reason, the sound of people and cars was always calming to him.

Now, it had just gotten dark and it was early October so it was around 7 or 8 PM and there were still a lot of people out and about. Like this one lady and her daughter maybe, who walked out of a restaurant just now and the little girl—5 or 6—bent down to tie her shoe.

Smiling to himself, Wes looked around and picked up a dandelion growing near the curb, put his hood back, and handed it to the little girl once she looked up. Seeing her face light up made Wes smile even wider.

The mother put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and smiled kindly at him, "You're a nice young man."

"Have a good night," he said and walked away, putting his hood back up.

His father certainly wouldn't have agreed. If he saw what he did just now, he would probably even go as far as disown him.

_To hell with my father,_ Wes thought.

Then he heard the screams.

Something immediately went off in him and he followed the shrill sounds to an alley where it seemed like a girl was being mugged by a man.

But then he recognized her: it was a girl from his school, Savanna Briggs. They shared a few classes together over the course of high school.

She was screaming and crying, trying to get out of this man's grip. She was kicking and punching and doing everything she could but the guy seemed to be made out of metal.

"Hey!" Wes barked. "Get your hands off her!"

The man stopped and long, black wings—_wings_—flared from his back.

Time seemed to slow as the man turned his head toward Wes and his dark eyes began to glow and something like smoke pooled out of them and seeped into the air.

Then Wes stopped feeling. He stopped seeing. He couldn't breathe, and he felt like he was underwater.

No, he _was_ underwater.

Wes opened his eyes as wide as he could, but all he saw was blackness when he tried to swim and swim to the surface. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't. He just couldn't.

Blackness closed in on him.

He opened his eyes.

He was on his knees, in the city, and he heard the sounds of cars and people.

He took a deep breath. He could _breathe_.

Wait. _Savanna!_

He looked up and the man was gone, but Savanna was there. She was on the ground, unmoving.

Wes scrambled toward her, his whole body shaking.

There was blood pooling around her body.

"Savanna?" he rasped. "Can...can you hear me?"

She's dead. _Oh, my God, oh my God, she's dead!_

If Wes's breathing wasn't shaky enough before, it certainly was now when he got up and started his walk home, surprised when his knees didn't give out, despite how wobbly they were.

She was dead.

* * *

She was dead. 

Savanna Briggs was dead and Wes didn't do anything to save her.

Wes glanced down angrily on his enclosed fists back at the assembly, wanting to punch something. He wanted to yell that it wasn't true, that it wasn't fair.

It just wasn't fair.

He could feel that one guy's eyes on him, the guy who bumped into him in the hallway.

He didn't catch his gaze.

She was dead.


	2. Under the street lights i’ll wait a lifetime

The bathroom was silent, but the roaring in his ears was deafening.

Wes gripped the sides of the tub like it was his lifeline while his head was submerged underwater.

Suddenly the bathroom door slammed open. "Wes! What are you _doing!_"

Wes scrambled up, thankful the soapy water was disguising his lower parts when his maid, Jude, burst through.

"I'm training," he said.

Jude blinked, her face red with anger.

"I'm trying to see how long I can hold my breath!" He said, a bit childishly.

It wasn't a lie.

Ever since his encounter with that winged creature that murdered Savanna Briggs almost a week ago, he wanted to count his breath underwater for as long as possible in case _something_ would happen.

Jude flipped her barely graying hair over her shoulder. "I better not catch you doing that again or you're in big trouble, Coleman." She gently placed new towels on the towel shelf despite her temper and shut the door behind her when she walked back out. "Taking you to school in 30!" She called.

Wes released a long breath and stopped the stopwatch on the phone where it rested on top of the toilet seat lid beside the tub.

He was making progress, though. Slowly but surely. That's all that mattered.

* * *

On the way to school, Nico rested his chin on his palm as he listened to his dad talk about work to a coworker.

"—you have any leads with the Briggs murder case yet?" Now _that_ perked Nico's interest. He heard about Savanna Briggs' death almost a week ago during school. That Wes Coleman guy was weird about it.

His father was silent for a moment as he let the other person on the line speak. "Damn," he said after a moment. "That girl deserves justice. This is an odd one. Okay. You too. Good luck." His father took the phone away from his ear, ended the call, then sighed.

"Terrible thing," murmured Nico.

"Tell me about it," his dad huffed as he gripped the steering wheel. "First, a teenage girl was murdered in public. Second, there are no possible suspects and the murderer is on the loose, possibly going to kill another young girl, probably right now."

"You guys will get something."

His father pursed his lips. "Yeah. We will." He stopped the car in front of the school. He smiled at his son. "See you tonight, kid."

Nico grabbed his messenger bag and left the car. "Bye dad, love you." He closed the door and walked up to the school, ready for another day of hearing gossip about the murder.

* * *

Adrian Reynolds is the most humble person anyone could ever meet. Well, at least that's what he thought about himself. Especially when he gave that one kid from the Hallway Incident Wes's seat at lunch.

"So I saw you sitting at the one-person tables over there and I was like, '_Hey! Maybe I should invite him over!_' So here we go. You're welcome."

The kid blinked. "Thanks?" He set his messenger bag on the floor beside his seat.

Adrian squinted his eyes (man, he really needed a new prescription) as he leaned in to see the other guy's eyes. They were green. "Wow, your eyes are green."

"They are."

"You a junior?"

"Yeah."

"Cool! Me too. What's your—"

A backpack thudded on the table and the other guy and Adrian jumped. "Hey, Adrian," Wes said. He slid his eyes to the green-eyed guy sitting in his seat. "Oh. It's you."

"It's me," the kid said weakly.

Wes rolled his eyes and just plopped in another chair and put his chin in his hand, taking out his expensive phone (_The new iPhone! So many cameras,_ Adrian thought.) Adrian noticed that Wes's hair was less kept than usual and he had dark circles under his eyes, like a raccoon.

"_Woah!_ Bag check for Wes's eyes! Haha!"

"You look like a traffic cone," Wes said, not even looking up.

Adrian frowned down at his orange hoodie. "Raccoon," he mumbled.

Adrian coughed loudly and waved his hand toward the other guy. "Wes, I'd like to officially introduce you to the guy who bumped into you in the hallway. I don't know his name, but he's gonna sit with us now."

"It's Nico," Nico winced. "Also, sorry."

Wes shrugged, looked up from his phone, then shook Nico's hand. "It's fine, I guess." Then he went back to the phone, eyes all droopy.

"Also, I'm Adrian!" Adrian grinned as he reached over to shake green-eyed guy's hand. From what he could tell out of his wacky prescription glasses, Nico had curly black hair and some swooped over his eyes. _Heheh. Swooped_. Adrian only had 3 hours of sleep the previous night because he was up reading conspiracy theories, which are the one thing he and Wes had in common. Adrian sat back down.

But Wes didn't seem loopy-tired like Adrian was. He looked depressed-tired. Wes being depressed-tired wasn't good.

Well, Wes seemed depressed-tired for almost a week now. Adrian wondered if he was getting any sleep at all.

Suddenly, Wes's head perked up. "Nick? You know anything about the supernatural?"

Nico blinked. "It's Nico. And uh, no?"

"Okay."

When Adrian took a bite of his sandwich, Nico stood and cleared his throat awkwardly. "I need to use the restroom. Any recommendations?"

Adrian took off his hat and placed it over his heart. "My time has _come_. There's this one bathroom no one goes to during lunch because it's too far, but it's empty. It's on the second floor in the math hallway."

"Thanks," then he left.

"You're so _weird_," Adrian groaned as he put his cap back on. "Why don't you like that guy? He seems nice. Is it because he bumped into you in the hallway?"

"I didn't say anything," Wes said, taking his leather notebook out of his backpack. "And no, it's not because he bumped into me in the hallway." He paused. "Actually, it kind of is. I don't know, it's fun."

"Ugh, fine. Also! Why are you being so prickly lately? And I know it's not because of Nico. You two interacted for only like 5 seconds, and that can't be enough to ruin your week."

Wes's shoulders slumped. Adrian's eyes widened...Wes always maintained his Rich Boy Posture. "You're right," he said. Adrian noticed, even with his stupid prescription, that Wes's eyes went dark with...regret? Despair? He couldn't put a finger on it.

Adrian noticed the change in atmosphere and in equal seriousness, he asked, "Wes...what happened?" He leaned forward so he could hear over the chatter of people.

Wes looked around. Left and right. "I saw it." He said quickly.

"What?"

"I _saw_ it. I saw Savanna when _it_ happened."

Adrian stiffened and was suddenly hit by the dire seriousness of the situation. "Oh my God. Why didn't you tell me? Or anyone?"

Wes's hands clenched around his phone. "Because...the person that killed her...it wasn't of this world. It had _wings_, Adrian."

"You're joking."

"You know I don't joke."

He was right. Wes's jokes were terrible. Even more terrible than this. Also Wes wouldn't joke about someone who had just gotten _murdered_.

"Oh my God," he said again.

"Yup."

* * *

Nico fiddled with the cuffs of his brown jacket as he walked down the unfamiliar halls of the school to the bathroom Adrian had recommended. 

There were people sitting with their friends against the walls in the hallways and Nico avoided their stares. Well, _if_ they were staring. He knew they didn't care, but he did sometimes. It was a hard feeling to get rid of.

Nico released a breath of relief when he got to the bathroom.

He barely eased the door open when he saw a person at the sink. The person didn't notice him at the door. He certainly didn't notice when Nico saw him put his hand up to the faucet and the running water immediately turned into flowers and leaves and vegetation.

He definitely didn't see Nico slowly close the door and see him speed walk away.

When he got to the empty stairwell, he slumped against the wall and tried to slow his breathing.

Guess he didn't need to pee that bad anyway.

_Magic. Magic. Magic. _


End file.
